Of Windows and Curtains
by Kristen APA
Summary: "You know, I made those curtains 15 years ago. In fact, I think I finished them only weeks before we met." [Anna x Bates fluff, written without S6 spoilers in mind]


**A/N:** Happy birthday, fuzzydreams! Sorry that this is very much on the short side (and more disjointed than I like), but I hope that you've had a lovely day.

I came up with this idea when we were all speculating on S6 and then realized that the curtains in the cottage have been with Anna since her very first scene. Written without S6 spoilers in mind.

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own _Downton Abbey_.

* * *

Every Christmas, Lady Grantham bestowed the maids with cloth for a new frock. The fabric was typically a muslin or light cotton, but one year, Anna received a small bolt of what was obviously a more heavier material meant for upholstery. Running it between in fingers, she decided to make curtains.

The window in her shared bedroom was just enclosed with a thin white cloth that wasn't much thicker than bed sheet. The cream colored fabric with the intricate flower design almost seemed too fancy for a housemaid's quarters, but she knew that it would spruce up the place.

Without a sewing machine, she had to sew the straight stitches by hand, mostly by the candlelight in the small room she shared with Gwen. She thought about working on this project in the servants' hall if she had extra time, but she didn't need Miss O'Brien's snide remarks about if that she was done with her work for the three girls that she ought to be helping her with any sewing for Lady Grantham. But slow and steady won the race, and Anna proudly hung up the curtains on the window next to her bedside.

* * *

Over the next few years, her roommates came and went, but Anna and her handiwork remained. It was through these parted curtains that she saw Mr Bates drive away with Vera, and sometimes, she'd stand there looking up at the moon, remembering the analogy she told the well meaning Mr Molesley. The love of her life returned to her, but they still faced so many hardships. Yet, she tried to keep the faith, that they did not miss their window to be together, knowing that their love was strong enough to withstand it all that came their way.

* * *

The cottage needed a good cleaning that was for sure. But Anna knew that they could make it their home, with their own touches. She had carefully taken the curtains down from her old room, and now altered them to fit in the sitting room window, getting them hung up just in time for their home's first visitor. They were getting there with the decorating, but now they had a place that was _theirs_. _The Bateses'_ _cottage_. Just the thought of that made her giddy with excitement, the true start to their married life together. And sometimes there were a few near misses to making sure those curtains were closed when they made use of their newly broken sofa.

* * *

For that month that she returned to the abbey, it was strange being up in the attic but not her old room. She glanced out the window, glad that it didn't give her a view of the pathway that her husband took to work. Those curtains were still secure back at _home_ , in the cottage. Where she ached to be, but felt that she couldn't. That she didn't deserve to.

Once he knew, and once back in the sitting room, the familiarity of all was both comforting and at times overwhelming. Sometimes on a bad night, she'd go downstairs, see those curtains, and remember how far they came, providing her a sliver of safety and hope.

* * *

The curtains were one of the last things packed from the cottage. The time had come to say goodbye to their first marital home, and it was bittersweet, even if they they were finally now living their dreams, and had finally began that new chapter in their lives, something now tangible and not just in their imaginings.

And now here they were, hanging those curtains up in their bedroom of the hotel. She adjusted the ruffle of the valance, as John bounced Margaret gently on the bed, still not allowed to climb any ladders.

"How does it look?"

He scooped up their 18 month year old daughter and then looked up at his wife's handiwork. "Marvelous."

She beamed, and then came down and joined them on the bed. Margaret gurgled with glee, and Anna took her from him, snuggling their little girl to her chest. "You know, I made those curtains 15 years ago. In fact, I think I finished them only weeks before we met."

"I knew that they were they your curtains from the abbey, but I didn't know you had them that long. It's a testament to your skilled work." He smoothed the back of Margaret's head, the fine baby hair like silk under his fingers. "As so much of everything is."

She understood the double meaning of his words and could feel her eyes beginning to well up. She tilted her face up to meet his lips as he leaned down, only breaking apart at the sound of their daughter's giggles.

If their new neighbors were to look through their window, they would have seen the perfect framed picture of a family that had fought so hard to be together, but came through it all and with so much love.

* * *

 ** **A/N**** **: Thank you for reading! And thanks to everyone who reviews my work. :)**


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